AMFP News

Not understanding the specific legal requirements of your state or territory

You can leave yourself under protected and exposed to legal action, heavy fines or liability in the event of an incident.

You could be paying for things you're not required to have, when the money could be better spent elsewhere

Should a fire incident occur and your fire protection system or equipment not comply either by not being correctly installed or correctly maintained, your insurer may disqualify your claim.

Not dealing with fire protection specialists

Not all fire protection companies specialise in all aspects of fire protection, some are simply extinguisher contractors relying heavily on a myriad of sub-contractors. There is the danger of problems going un-diagnosed in the early stages and then only becoming evident when total break-down occurs.

Make sure you deal with professionals, ask for reputable references you can follow-up on for your total fire protection needs and peace of mind.

Does the company you're dealing with have the technical ability and the experience to relate to the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer)? Can they get support from the manufacturer without delay or expense?

Not understanding 'whole of life costing' or 'total cost of ownership'

It is the natural trend for many companies when building new or upgrading an existing facility to focus on the bottom line, and rightly so in today's economic climate. However, maintenance, running costs, longevity, failure rates, refresh cycles and many other factors will affect the real cost of owning and operating a fire protection system

Make sure you are dealing with people who design, install, configure, fault find, test, maintain and guarantee their systems. There are far too many systems that are installed in a poor manner with the installing company walking away once they receive full payment. Provided that you are satisfied, the company that installs a system should remain with you for many years to come and support you and the systems and equipment that they install.

Look for companies with a proven track record of installing, servicing and maintaining systems

Building owners need to factor in the cost of dismantling and disposing of a system at its end of life

Assuming you can buy part of a system and add onto it later

Not all systems can be interconnected to existing equipment or expanded upon for new systems or operate seamlessly under a single control. Deal with a specialist who can work with you to assess your needs and can guide you to make the right decision for now and the future. Get the facts!

Make sure the program software and maintenance manuals of the system of choice are your property and readily available and won’t link you into any one service provider for the life of the system.

Trading off performance for price without fully understanding the risks

The cheapest price can end up costing you dearly!

If your new system doesn’t perform correctly or just barely meets your requirements and still has no upgrade capabilities how can you expand on the system as your business grows?

Worst case a system may be so far off the mark for that required for a site that it may be necessary to completely replace the system and equipment with something that is more suitable. Clearly there is no saving in such a situation to say nothing of the disruption to the site activity should it be necessary to replace a system. Frequently we have been called in to fix the shoddy work of others!

We use quality products, are known for both our experience and the quality of our work and take great pride in a job well done with many satisfied customers.